Blog

Once again,  I'm honored and excited to have an article in IOUG SELECT Journal's 3rd Quarter 2016 edition. This time, I'm delving deeply into the latest features of Oracle 12cR1 Real Application Testing in the first part of a two-part series entitled Regression Analyzed, Tout de Suite: Leveraging Oracle 12c Database Real Application Testing (RAT) … Continue reading Catch 12cR1 RAT By the Tail, and Learn More About Security Risks →

IT Central Station recently interviewed me at COLLABORATE16 in Las Vegas and asked me for my professional opinion of Oracle Database 12cR1's feature sets, especially Database In-Memory and Multitenancy. I also provided a glimpse of coming attractions - some (already public) information on how DBIM and Multitenant is going to work in 12cR2 - and … Continue reading Check Out My Interview with IT Central Station on Oracle Database 12cR1 Features →

In my latest IOUG SELECT Journal article - DBA, Heal Thyself: 5 Diseases of IT Organizations and How Oracle DBAs Can Cure Them - I mentioned a specific ailment that I call Idiomyopia. (It's my term for IT organizations that tolerate incompetent Oracle DBAs.) It's not unusual for an Oracle DBA's incompetence to be identified … Continue reading Mendax, Mendax, Braccae Igni: A Solution To Deceptive Interviewees? →

At long last, I'm honored to announce that my second book has been published! I labored intensely alongside my co-authors - Mike Ault, Tariq Farooq, Guy Harrison, Mohammed Houri, Syed Jaffar Hussain, and Paulo Portugal - to bring our years of experience to bear on some of the more common (and not-so-common!) problems that an … Continue reading Just Published: Oracle Database Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Handbook →

I recently had the honor of participating in an intensive week of Oracle 12c Release 2 (12cR2) beta testing during the week of April 25-29 at Oracle HQ in Belmont, CA. I joined an elite team of ten Oracle ACEs and ACE Directors to explore the latest features of Oracle 12cR2. It was a most … Continue reading Gray(ing) ACEs: Beta Testing Oracle 12c.NEXT →

Along with four other Oracle ACEs, I was recently honored to have a chance to express my opinions on Oracle's Public Cloud offerings during a series of interviews with PROFIT magazine. It was a fantastic (and humbling!) opportunity to speak my mind on how IT organizations in general - and Oracle DBAs in particular - … Continue reading PROFIT: ACEs Interview on Oracle Cloud →

I'm excited to announce that the renowned publication Database Trends and Analysis (DBTA) has chosen to print my latest article on Oracle Database 12c In-Memory features entitled Tips for Accelerating Analytics with Oracle Database In-Memory. It was quite humbling to have my colleagues at Oracle, especially Maria Colgan (whom I think of as the Goddess … Continue reading One New Publisher, Two New Articles →

In my last three decades in Information Technology, I've often been asked to perform deep technical interviews with candidates for open positions. I've discovered a rather unnerving trend that's begun to accelerate over the last five years: a significant uptick in the number of candidate Oracle DBAs who apparently see nothing wrong with exaggerating their … Continue reading Do Candidate Oracle DBAs Exaggerate Their Skills? →

If you've heard about Attribute Clustering and Zone Mapping - two brand-new features in Oracle Database Release 12.1.0.2 - then be sure to check out my latest IOUG SELECT Journal Q4 2015 Article, which does a deep dive on these features. And if you aren't a member of IOUG, feel free to check out a … Continue reading Cluster Your Attributes! Map Your Zones! More Insight into Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 →

Just a quick note that my latest IOUG SELECT Journal article on 12c R1 features - an essential read, especially if you're contemplating experiments with In-Memory Column Store features -  is available on IOUG's web site. In honor of Oracle OpenWorld 2015, IOUG has made the entire 2015 Q3 SELECT Journal available publicly, so grab … Continue reading IMCS, Part 3: 2015Q3 SELECT Journal Article Now Available →